


Quest Ficlets

by sbuggbot



Category: SteamWorld Quest (Video Game)
Genre: Don't copy to another site, Gen, One Shot Collection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2020-03-01 07:34:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18795838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sbuggbot/pseuds/sbuggbot
Summary: I've made several little scenarios that I was too fond of to keep to myself but didn't seem to be complete enough to get their own entries.So here we are now.





	1. An Exhausted Student

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exams are coming and Professor Hyapathia is trying to prepare her students. Keyword trying, and it seems even her best student isn't quite her focused self today...
> 
> Half-baked and accidentally written in Google Keep one midnight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I originally posted this fic to my Tumblr and planned to keep it there exclusively, but then I realized it would get totally buried there...so I decided to share it here as well so it would hopefully be seen more. I wrote this more or less by accident around midnight one night and didn't feel like fleshing it out, partly due to laziness and partly because my Heist fic wasn't going to write itself.
> 
> Anyway, this fic takes place before Quest and before Copernica dropped out of college. Probably isn't super spoilery but it also probably won't make as much sense if you haven't seen/played Act 2 of Quest.

“…there’s a simple reason for that, and that is…” Hyapathia paused, waiting to see if a particularly engaged student would attempt to finish the sentence for her. No such luck this time, unfortunately. There was virtually always a portion of students not bothering to pay attention. It was a renewable source of irritation for the professor; one could probably solve an energy crisis with it.

A Delta Tau student spoke up. “Um, professor…” He pointed to the desk beside him. It drew the attention of several other students, and soft giggles began to permeate the room.

Copernica–one of Hyapathia’s favorite students, admittedly–had fallen asleep at her desk. She was using one arm as a pillow while the other one hung down loosely, spellbook precariously perched in its grip. Usually, she was  _much_ more attentive than this; finishing thoughts the professor had deliberately left dangling and frequently asking questions. Certainly not napping, especially this close to exams.

“Hm. Well.” The professor said, clearly amused. More giggling. “She isn’t snoring or drooling on her book, so I won’t bother to wake her.” It was college, if a student was going to sleep during class then that was their loss. The fact that Copernica was normally a teacher’s pet also meant Hyapathia was willing to give her some leeway.

So she continued on with the lesson. Further distractions were kept to a minimum for a while aside from one student trying to nudge Copernica’s book out of her hand, but a stern look discouraged the punk from causing a scene. Honestly, did any of these students even _want_  to be here, she wondered to herself.

Copernica’s grip on her book loosened marginally, but it was enough for it to fall and hit the ground with a **THUD**. The apprentice alchemist jolted awake with a startled gasp, her glasses still askew.

More giggling from her classmates, and Hyapathia joked, “I’m aware that today’s lecture isn’t on the most exciting of topics, neophyte Copernica, but I didn’t realize I was quite  _that_ boring.”

Copernica hastily straightened her glasses and picked her spellbook off the ground, steam hissing from her neck vents. “Nonono, it’s not that, I don’t know what came over me, I’m so sorry, I won’t let it happen again–” She prattled on, ironically being more of a disruption than she had been while asleep. (This was part of the reason Hyapathia had let her sleep, suspecting this would happen once she was disturbed.)

Hyapathia put a hand on Copernica’s shoulder. Its effect was immediate–she immediately stopped talking and looked up at her professor. “You’re a good student and this is your first incident. I’ll let it pass. But I advise that you do any sleeping outside of class in the future.”

It was if someone had flipped a switch in Copernica’s head; all she could do in response was breathlessly nod, her eyes still almost as wide as her frames. It was still obvious that the poor thing was exhausted, but there wasn’t anything the professor could do about that–she had a lesson to teach and the allotted time for this class was finite. She'd have to ask after class--if Copernica didn't immediately flee the room, that is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Copernica, she's probably working herself too hard in an attempt to pass the classes she hates.


	2. Word Machine Broken; Try Again Later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Filled a writing prompt I found in a successful attempt to get the creative juices flowing. After wrapping this scene up I went and wrote out "Astraphobia".

“Armilly, if you get up one more time, I’m gonna bolt you to the bed.”

Armilly looked towards them at the sound of Galleo’s voice, but judging by the look on her face, the words were not sinking in. Her being sick sometimes brought on other weird malfunctions, like parts of her mind short-circuiting.

“I don’t think she’s coherent enough to understand you…” Orik said.

“Probably not, but sometimes I get through to her when she’s like this so it doesn’t hurt to try.” He put his hands on her shoulder plates and began to guide her. “Back to bed with you.”

“But elephants are in the laundry,” Armilly objected, resisting his pushing.

Galleo sighed. “Alright, you can stay out here I guess, but you better stay on the couch.” 

Armilly mumbled something that wasn’t even recognizable as words but didn’t resist Galleo’s guiding her to the couch at least. She flopped down, slouching against the armrest. Another string of nonsense Orik couldn't make any sense of.

“Good, I’m glad we could come to an agreement,” Galleo replied.

There was no overstating the level of confusion reflected on Orik’s face.


	3. Bad Dreams - We All Have Our Fears

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tarah finds Orik visibly shaken after a nightmare.

"--d? Orik, wake up!" Tarah shook his shoulder--gently, because the one in her reach was his bad one, but hopefully still firmly enough to wake him up. Orik had been breathing oddly and mumbling in his sleep.

Orik flinched hard when he woke up. For a few moments, he laid there, staring ahead and trying to reorient himself. Shaking, he reached over and picked up his mask. He held it on his face as he waited for his breathing to calm down. There were a lot of feelings in him at the moment, and having an extra barrier between his emotions and the rest of the world's prying eyes brought Orik comfort he desperately needed.

"Are you okay?" Tarah asked with no hint of snark, no teasing in her voice. It was worrying seeing Orik so transparently panicked.

With no prior warning, Orik flipped on the lamp and began frantically checking her over for any damage. "Tarah, are you alright? You're not hurt, are you?"

"I'm fine," she said, rolling with him for the time being. "What's gotten into  _ you _ ?"

Not finding anything different or concerning on Tarah, Orik stopped looking over her with a sigh, sinking back against his bed. "I-I had a bad dream," he admitted. "I'm sorry, I should have asked before prodding at you like that."

Tarah was unfazed; she was no stranger to weird behaviors after nightmares. "It's okay, I've taken a faceful of Arcane from Thayne during his nightmares. But why did you...?"

Orik looked away, his mask reflecting a much more subdued version of his distressed expression. "The gods were trying to recreate the Necronomicog...you, Thayne, everyone was so badly hurt..." The images flashed through his mind again and made him shudder. "I...I wanted to reassure myself that it wasn't real."

"Mhm, it's just a dream, we're all okay..." A pause while she fiddled with her cape. "Do you need a hug?" 

"Please." His response was almost instant.

Tarah hopped up and hugged him tight around his shoulders. Orik hugged her back with his good arm, already feeling better. 

"Thank you." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TEAM DAD ORIK (except he needed the help this time :P)


	4. Stoned as a Brick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This just kinda....happened. Once again I write a ficlet in Google Keep on my phone.
> 
> Armilly has two brain cells and they both go on vacation when she's put under general anesthesia.

"So how's Armilly doing?" Galleo asked.

"They had to sedate her for that repair, and that part went well, but..."

"But?"

"Well..." Copernica rubbed the back of her head. "You know how Armilly reacts weird to medicine, right?"

"I do?" Galleo asked, meaning he didn't remember about it at all.

Copernica let her arm drop with a sigh. "She does, and she's still really out of it."

Just then, there was a loud clatter from the other room. Armilly. Copernica sighed and rested her forehead against the wall. "Not again," she groaned.

"WHY AM I ON THE FLOOR!?" came Armilly's slurred voice.

"Because you tried to stand up on your own after being sedated earlier," Copernica shouted back, the fatigue evident in her voice.

"Okay, I'm just gonna..." Galleo turned to leave.

 _"Oh no, you don't."_ Copernica grabbed his wrist and tugged him along. "You're not leaving me to corral her on my own." Galleo was plenty strong enough to resist her tugging, but he knew better in this situation.

Indeed, Armilly was sprawled out on the floor, across the room from the couch when Copernica dragged Galleo into the living room.

"Coco, the room keeps tripping me..." Armilly said, still face down on the floor.

"That's why I told you to stay laying down."

"Up you get," Galleo said as he picked Armilly up. She hardly seemed to notice that she was being held; all her attention was on the mirror now.

She was glaring at the mirror hard enough to crack it. "Are you taunting me?" Armilly spat at it.

"What? No!"

"Oh, for cog's sake, not this again..." Copernica muttered, pushing up her glasses to rub her eyes.

"Again?" Galleo asked.

"She's talking to her reflection again, evidently it's been making fun of her the whole time we've been home," she explained. "Armilly's convinced it's trying to pick a fight with her."

"You wanna go?!" Armilly asked the mirror, squirming in Galleo's arms and trying to lunge at it.

Copernica stepped in the middle of it before Armilly squirmed out of Galleo's arms and fell. "I'm sure they didn't mean it, Milly," she said wearily.

"Of course they do, see the look on their face?" Armilly jabbed a finger at the mirror.

Maybe she was tired, maybe she was losing it, maybe she was just humoring the disoriented loon, but Copernica looked over at the mirror. "I see the reflection of a woman who's high as a kite and should probably sit down, and her two very tired friends."

"Come on, you." Galleo said as he shifted his hold on her. Armilly squinted at the mirror suspiciously and then used two fingers to point to her own eyes, then the mirror.

"That's _enough,"_ Copernica said as they maneuvered Armilly back onto the couch. "I'm covering that mirror until you're sober again." And she was off to get a sheet from her room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Copernica needs a break and probably some Tylenol too.


	5. On Summer Camp and Being Tired Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Galleo and Copernica reflect on their weird childhood incidents while Orik, Tarah, and Thayne watch on in confusion and Armilly's conked out on the couch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt my inspiration shrivelling up so I scrolled through my phone gallery and ended up making this.
> 
> Composed in Google Keep(TM)

Armilly had faceplanted on the couch and stayed there. She had an arm and a leg dangling off the edge and touching the floor.

"Milly?"

Armilly sat up and just barely bothered to open her eyes. "I'm gonna steal the Buzzy animatronic from Cranium Command," she mumbled. Then she laid back down, rolled over, and immediately fell back asleep.

Copernica blinked. "...what?" She got a half-snore in response.

"Yep, she's out all right."

"What's an animatronic?" Thayne asked.

"What's _Cranial Command_?" Orik asked, sounding even more confused.

"I think Armilly tapped into another dimension again," Galleo said. "She never makes sense in her sleep."

Tarah walked over and poked at her. "Are you guys gonna just leave her here, then?" 

"Probably," Galleo said. "Once she crashes, she's down and she's not going to move. At least she didn't fall asleep *on* anybody this time..."

"I take it this is a semi-regular occurrence?" Orik asked.

"Yeah, if she doesn't make it to bed at the end of a really eventful day, she'll just conk out on the nearest vaguely horizontal surface," Copernica said. "It's happened more than a few times at summer camp, especially when she was smaller..."

"One time they just let her sleep on one of the benches overnight 'cause they couldn't get her to move..." Galleo added.

"What."

"I don't remember that."

"It was the day after she swallowed a baked sweet potato whole, remember? And it was on one of the covered porches at least..."

"Oh, for cog's sake," Copernica muttered, remembering the incident now.

"And you guys say Thayne and I had a weird childhood..."

"It's Armilly," Thayne said.

"Copernica was pretty wild when she was a kid, too," Galleo said. "Maybe even more than Armilly..."

"Name ONE weird thing I did, then," Copernica said with her arms crossed.

"You talked me into trying that one mushroom on the condition you'd taste some too to prove it wasn't poisonous. And then we were both sick for like, a day and a half."

"I thought it was a safe one!" Copernica sputtered. "I didn't know its look-alike grew in this region, too!"

"How are any of you alive," Orik muttered.


	6. Snuffed Passion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Author is kinda tired and projected her struggles with postsecondary education onto Copernica.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will freely admit that this is more of a vent about college not working out well for me. It's mostly aggravated my mental health problems... I've tried to make it work but it's just too much and I'm having to step away from it all for a semester (or more idk yet)
> 
> I've always found Copernica's backstory very relatable as a result. (Aside from the whole crush-on-the-teacher thing but whatever)

It was late and Copernica could not sleep. She needed to, though, she had class and an exam in the morning. 

The idiots down the hall began shouting and carrying on again. The fact it was an hour and a half past quiet time meant nothing to them and complaining to them or the resident assistant solved nothing. She couldn't remember the last time she had gotten a decent sleep. 

Or the last time she hadn't cried herself to sleep. It seemed tonight wouldn't be any different; frustrated tears were already slipping out of her eyes and down her cheeks.

Studying alchemy at the college wasn't  _ fun _ for her anymore. Not only that, it couldn't hold her interest. The passion, the drive for her to achieve great things, was totally gone. What happened to the little girl who tore through any book on alchemy she could find?

Maybe because the college couldn't have chosen a more boring way to teach it. Practical knowledge one could use was few and far between piles of theories that didn't even matter in the real world, only on expensive pieces of paper. Growing up, her father had shown her so many cool things and ways alchemy was used for good, why couldn't there be people like  _ him _ teaching classes? 

The stuffy atmosphere only attracted the boring sort of person that wanted a cozy, risk free position repeating outdated curriculums that desperately needed to be updated for the modern day. And party animals that were coasting by on their parents' money, that sort had invaded the campus and made Copernica feel even more out of place.

_ Why was it so difficult for her? _ This was the path any Alchemist worth their salt took, and people told her she was smart and that she could do it. But here she was, a few failed exams away from being kicked out. Copernica had a splitting headache and suspected she was getting stress-sick for the third time this month. Even the frat kids that were barely trying somehow managed to get by fine alright, why couldn't she?

There was probably some alternate dimension with a Copernica that was already doing great things, getting awards and scholarships for changing the world. A Copernica that could do everything right without a sweat or a single shed tear. She didn't know if she existed but she hated her.

Copernica pulled the blanket tighter around her and smooshed her face into the pillow. She missed home...

**Author's Note:**

> Come yell at me on my Tumblr: [sbuggbot.tumblr.com](sbuggbot.tumblr.com)


End file.
